“Its fun because I get to do stuff my friends cant, like handstands,” she said with a cheeky smile.

Advertisement

Advertisement

The Terengganu resident has no trouble steadying herself with both hands on the mat, as she pranced through the moves of her routine.

Lara Khadijah Cornelius McAfee (right) started learning gymnastics since she was three years old. She wants to be a professional gymnast but must move out of Terengganu if she wants to pursue the sport competitively. (Photo: Fadza Ishak)

The small-framed girl told her coach at at Aliashka Fun Gym that she wants to follow in the footsteps of Farah Ann Abdul Hadi, Malaysian gymnastic queen who recently qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

But what she might not fully understand yet is that the state government of her home state Terengganu has put in place sporting guidelines that will make it near impossible for her to train and compete professionally in the near future.

Advertisement

Advertisement

The guidelines include withdrawing women from competing in all forms of gymnastics as athletes would “display indecent movements” that would expose their bodies.

The Terengganu state government, led by Islamic political party Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), is also draftinga syariah-compliant code of conduct for its athletes.

Ms Nurul Alia Jamal, Lara's coach and a former national gymnast, said she disagreed with the state governments decision and called for more discussion with the local gymnastics fraternity.

“Lara wants to be like Farah Ann, but with the new guidelines, her dreams will be dashed and all our hard work will be wasted,” she said.

“There should be a special discussion to resolve the issue, even if that means finding a set of clothing that is suitable. Barring them from training and competing is not the answer,” she added.

The Terengganu Gymnastics Association, which talent-spots and trains athletes from schools in the state, told CNA that they will be scaling back on recruiting promising female athletes in the near future, as per the guidelines from the state government.

Terengganu sent its largest female gymnastics contingent in 2018 to the biannual national sporting event Sukma Games, but they will not be sending any female gymnasts for the next edition in July 2020.

Moving forward, the Terengganu team will recruit mainly male gymnasts in line with the state government's guidelines. (Photo: Fadza Ishak)

“Our hands are tied, we have to follow the guidelines from the state government,” said the associations secretary-general and head coach Ahmad Akramin.

“It's better if we just focus on males for our upcoming trials. We will have higher medal chances if we streamline our resources in that manner,” added the former national gymnast vaulter, who once clinched bronze at the Southeast Asian Games.

Terengganu wants to focus on developing its male gymnastic team now that the government will not allow girls to compete in state competitions. (Photo: Fadza Ishak)

Mr Ahmad oversees the training for the state athletes and has a handful of female gymnasts under his charge.

When CNA visited a training session at the state's Bukit Nenas sports school, there were a handful of female athletes.

The teenagers were on a punishing routine – swinging on uneven bars with their chalked hands and doing handstands across the gymnasium repeatedly. But their hard work could be in vain as they would not be given the opportunity to represent Terengganu in the national meet in 2020.

Teenage girls training at the state sports school in Bukit Nenas. They are required to wear long tights when doing their routines. (Photo: Fadza Ishak)

Mr Ahmad said that the female gymnasts will continue training for the moment, but if they want to go far in the sport, they might have to train with the national team in Bukit Jalil in Kuala Lumpur or reside in another state.

“Weve had a non-Muslim female gymnast who is talented, but she has moved to train with the national team in Kuala Lumpur. Its possible for aspiring girl gymnasts to fulfill their dreams, but very challenging,” said Mr Ahmad.

WE ARE NOT THE TALIBAN: EXCO MEMBER

The state government unveiled its sporting guidelines in August 2018, three months after PAS wrested control of Terengganu from the Barisan Nasional coalition after Malaysias 14th general election.

The implementation of the guidelines have been done in stages so as not to "appear radical", Terengganus Youth, Sports and NGO Development executive councillor Wan Sukairi Wan Abdullah told CNA.

“We know that we are managing people, not robots. People have feelings, they can be rebellious, they can be accepting … we dont want people to see Terengganu as an extreme state like the Taliban,” he said.

Mr Wan Sukairi explained that the written guidelines are based on Islam and syariah compliance. He explained that the rules address points like attire, coaching, physio treatment and other areas of sports related to training and competition.

He also outlined that the importance of “modest attire” for sports is to take care of the welfare of the athletes and prevent sexual misconduct from happening.

“You may have heard of reports of molest and rape involving the coaches. These things happen and we want to prevent all these things from happening by introducing these (sporting) guidelines that cover early preparation to competition,” he said.